You can’t beat a good book…
Portfolios, books, work…… stuff, whatever you want to call them; after a few years of looking through them you’d hope I’d know a few things about how to put one together.
Firstly, some common sense. Think about who you’re meeting beforehand and tailor your book to them. One man’s rubbish is another man’s treasure and all that - in other words, what one agency is looking for is often different to the next so it pays to do your homework before each meeting.
To coin another phrase, first impressions count, so it’s a great idea to show your strongest piece first - get them engaged right from the start….. keep in mind though, any agency you meet is, first and foremost, a commercially successfully business (or at least they should be) so, as an absolute minimum, their work is completed on time, on budget and is of a good enough standard to pay the bills - you need to demonstrate you’re capable of exactly the same.
This might seem harsh but communicating the fact that you’re a commercially viable designer has to be your first aim….. so open your book with a really great piece of COMMERCIALLY successful work - something you’re really proud of and something your client loves too.
The next step is to back that up with more solid, commercially driven work. If you can, show the different platforms you’ve worked on - show how you’re capable of rolling a brand out across all media and show us a range of target markets you’ve communicated with - big brands, small brands, retail, consumer, B2B, old and young.
The last few pages of your book are where you can have a bit more fun. You should have ticked all the boxes by this point and here’s your chance to add the sparkle, to show all the added extras you can bring to the role - effectively saying, “right, I’ve proved I can hit deadlines, budgets, can put together a good spread, but here’s what else you’re getting - here’s what I’d like to be doing more of.”
If you fancy yourself as a bit of an illustrator, t-shirt designer, photographer, or anything a little bit different I guess, use that as your “and finally” piece.
It should take around 15 minutes to present (probably around 10 - 15 sheets) and make sure your book is facing them as you talk through it - it never ceases to amaze me the amount of people that still sit talking about their work whilst expecting me to look at it upside down!
Do all this whilst arming yourself with a friendly and modest disposition and I reckon you’ll have half a chance.
Good luck!
Darren
